


In search of something greater

by TempestGael



Series: Resolute and Young: The Fabulous Bending Brothers [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Bolin is a delight, Brotherly Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Pre-Series, Pro-Bending, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 09:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2688302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempestGael/pseuds/TempestGael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place a few days after episode 3 of "Republic City Hustle".</p>
<p>Mako and Bolin have moved into the attic. Bolin wants to learn Toza's sick pro-bending moves. Training begins. Disasters happen because, obviously, it's Bolin. "He has a knack for getting himself into stupid situations".</p>
            </blockquote>





	In search of something greater

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why it took me so long to watch TLOK - especially knowing Bolin exists. This was an attempt to de-stress from work, and I had some fun writing it. Hopefully you'll have some fun reading it - because really, one can never have too much streetkid!Mako and streetkid!Bolin. Because...brothers. <3 
> 
> =)
> 
> (Titles - of story and series - are from "Life is Life" by Noah and the Whale, if you were interested.)

Bolin had dreams of skyrocketing through the ranks of pro-bending.

Bolin was certain he and Mako would be champs within their first two seasons.

Bolin thought it was only a matter of time before he and Mako were living like kings.

In his first practice with Toza, Bolin had his right shoulder separated.

Clearly Bolin was wrong.

 

Mako strolled toward the staircase nearest the earthbenders’ training space with Bolin’s fire ferret perched on his shoulders; the thing seemed to be trying to groom Mako’s hair, to his disgust. High ground, he figured, would be the safest place to be with Bolin hurling earth discs around for the first time. Mako had been unceremoniously elbowed aside in Bolin’s excitement to be the first one to train with Toza, disregarded after seven years of living in one another’s pockets with a quick “Hang on to Pabu for me!” before Bolin bolted across the gym floor to the stacks of earth discs and the nearby nets.

There was nothing quite like the sight of a scrawny, half-starved thirteen-year-old earthbender-in-training trying to mimic beefy Toza by bending one of the largest earth-weighted barbells. Mako rolled his eyes at Bolin’s bravado; his brother swaggered up to the monstrosity, settled into his low stance, and…nothing.

The barbell did nothing more than rattle pathetically on the floor before Bolin doubled over, panting and red-faced with embarrassment. “I – Must just be the time of day,” he chattered to Toza. “Too early, y’know? I mean, you saw me move the rack the other night – it just…zipped across there.” He trailed off in the face of Toza’s unchanging expression. “Just…” Bolin made a noise Mako supposed was meant to mimic the rattle of the rack as it ground across the floor and barricaded the gym doors. 

“Bolin, stop talking,” he advised.

Bo turned hurt eyes on him; Mako shrugged in what he hoped came across as apology. 

Toza, for his part, seemed to agree with Mako’s advice. He cocked an eyebrow and pushed Bolin toward an unobstructed patch of floor. “We’ll start you off with something more on your skill level until you get some meat on those stick limbs of yours,” he muttered. Mako snorted. “Don’t you laugh, fire-brand!” Toza called up at him. “You’re nothing more than kindling yourself!”

There went pouty Bolin. His little brother grinned up at him, and Mako couldn’t help but smile back. Toza was tetchy, but he had proven himself to be the decent sort. He was good to Bolin, at least. Patient, even. Sometimes. And anyone who could be patient with an excitable Bolin had to be good people. The pressure on Mako to keep Bolin from the Triple Threats had lessened significantly in the last few days alone – Toza had kept them busy not only cleaning and getting their attic fit for occupation, but with countless chores throughout the arena, overseen by Butakha. Butakha got Mako’s hackles up, generally treating them like scum under his shoes, but he would suck it up for the sake of Bolin. And indeed, thanks to the money they were already beginning to earn, Mako couldn’t remember the last time his and Bolin’s bellies had been so full for so many days straight.

“So,” Toza was saying on the floor. He was circling Bolin now, sizing him up even though he’d done so a hundred times since taking them in. “What do you know about pro-bending styles?”

“I’ve seen thousands of matches – millions!” Bolin enthused, “With Mako and Shady Shin – I mean, we were invited; we didn’t sneak in or anything. But – well, I guess we did –“

Toza slashed a hand through the air. “I don’t care what shenanigans you got up to as a street hooligan.” Mako narrowed his eyes at that. “I’m asking you what sort of earthbending practice you’ve had using pro-bending styles.”

Bolin blinked, opened his mouth to respond, and then snapped it closed again. “Oh, well – I haven’t really tried them, other than on my own in the alleys. Mako didn’t really want me to-“

Toza made an annoyed sound. “Then show me what you would do if, say, an extraordinarily talented old earthbender cornered you in one of your alleys and tried to steal your pet rat.”

Bolin’s expression collapsed into that familiar pout. “Pabu isn’t a rat!”

“All right, all right. If an extraordinarily talented old earthbender cornered you in an alley and tried to steal your fire ferret. Show me what you’ve got, Bolin.”

“Okay. Uh…” Mako leaned forward a little on the steps to watch. Bolin cast about, presumably for something he could use as an escape, and finally his gaze settled on the floor. Mako knew what was coming; he’d seen it plenty of times before, considering he was the one who had suggested it to Bolin in the first place. The best method of staying out of trouble when you were a six-year-old on the street was to have a good escape plan every time. Bo had torn up a number of Republic City’s alleys this way.

Toza was protective of the gym. Toza wasn’t going to like this one bit. “Bo-“ Mako called.

Too late. Bolin burst into motion, stomping into his well-practiced stance and bending the floor up into a sharp angle in front of Toza, forcing him back a few steps. Another sharp gesture, and the floor behind Toza ratcheted up as well, ramming the old man in the calves and forcing him off balance. Toza was far more practiced in bending than the hoods Mako and Bolin had encountered so many times in the streets, so where almost anyone else might have fallen, Toza merely stumbled forward a step or two before he managed to right himself. The moment Toza stumbled, Bolin hit the first jagged protruding slab of earth at a run and launched himself over Toza’s back in a clumsy forward flip. On the other side he didn’t quite stick the landing and plopped onto his butt.

Mako palmed his forehead. I hope our usual spot hasn’t been taken over yet.

In an alley, in an ideal situation, Bolin would be gone before any ‘talented old earthbender’ could recover: finding somewhere to hide or, even better, finding Mako for backup. Here in the gym, Bolin hopped to his feet and stood there with his hands on his hips. He had his back to Mako now so Mako couldn’t see his little brother’s expression, but Mako knew Bolin well enough to imagine the proud grin spreading there.

Toza whirled around, and the expression on his face was enough to make Bolin retreat a few more steps.

“What have you done to my gym?! You call that pro-bending?!”

“I…you said…”

Mako stood up – dislodging Pabu, who leapt from the stairs onto Bolin’s shoulders – his interior alarm turning to blaring klaxons. “Toza, he’ll fix it. Or we’ll pay for it – with Bolin’s winnings from your match, or – or you can give me extra chores and I’ll pay it off myself.” Or, if necessary, he could catch up with Shady Shin and run some errands on the side; Mako could feel their tenuous grasp on their new, safe, ‘honest living’ already beginning to slip. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Pay it off with yuans out of my pocket? How generous.” Toza glared up at him. There were a few long, tense moments during which a thousand scenarios flashed through Mako’s head. None of them were ending well, for either he or Bolin. He had to get between Bo and Toza – if the old man snapped, Bolin was his nearest target.

Then, all at once, Toza deflated, shaking his head.

“Ask a street kid to demonstrate what he’d do if he was cornered in the street.” Mako blinked when Toza started chuckling. The tension in Bolin’s frame slowly started seeping away; Mako could see the change from his vantage point. “What a stupid…” His tone softened a little. “Fix the floor, Bolin.”

Bolin scrambled to obey. “You got it Toza – er, sir. Toza, sir.” It took a few tries, but eventually the floor was more or less back in shape. A little rough, a little uneven, but Mako found himself somewhat impressed. Even Toza eyed it with something approaching approval. 

“Scarred by a future pro-bending champion, I hope.” Toza pounded Bolin on the back. “Better than an autograph! C’mere, kid; I’ll show you the proper way to do things around here.”

Mako sat down with a sigh. 

“Now,” Toza said, “the key to pro-bending is to be light on your toes. Usually earthbenders like you and me want to be as solid as possible, but that’s a one-way route to getting yourself knocked out early, no matter how good your balance is.” Toza demonstrated, bringing to earth discs to bear and jogging in place lightly on his toes until he powered into the discs with enough force to nearly break the netting across the gym. Bolin looked awestruck. “We earthbenders are good at waiting, Bolin. That’s what you’ve gotta learn for pro-bending, too. Waiting for the right moment to strike. You get your timing down with the discs, and the rest will follow the more experienced you get. Now kick up a disc. When it’s at a height you’re comfortable with, try firing it into that first net on the left.”

The first attempt was a swing and a miss. The earth disc clattered to the floor despite Bolin’s best efforts, nearly crushing the toes on his right foot in the process. Bolin yelped and danced back a step to avoid it, and the disc shattered. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Toza barked. “Just keep trying.”

“Right,” Bolin stammered. Another disc up, another swing. Bolin’s bending clipped the disc, but it wasn’t a direct strike, and it wobbled in the air before falling to the floor short of the net, skittering into the wall and breaking apart. Bolin’s brow furrowed. 

“Breathe,” Toza instructed. “Just takes practice.”

“But at this rate it’ll take a hundred years before Mako and I get to be pro-benders!” Bolin wailed. “I can’t even hit a stupid disc the right way.”

“Not a hundred. Three, maybe four,” Toza mused.

Bo whirled on him, eyes wide. “What?!”

“Three years at least. You know the rules. Pro-benders have to be sixteen.” Toza nodded up at Mako. “Assuming your brother gets some training in, he’ll be in the ring long before you.”

“But – that’s not fair! Mako -”

Mako shrugged. “You know the rules better than anyone I know, Bo.” 

“But what about Mahlek? He was a prodigy; he became a pro-bender when he was fourteen!”

“Prodigies? Bolin, don’t put all your turtle-duck eggs in that basket. How many prodigies have there actually been in pro-bending history?”

Bolin paused. He was going a little red in the face; a sure sign that he knew he was beaten but refused to give in. Instead of answering Toza’s question, his shoulders slumped. “I just wanna be a pro-bender.”

Toza patted Bolin’s shoulder. “You will, kid. I guarantee it. I told you before, you both have the chops. You start hitting those earth discs true, and the other benders won’t know what’s hitting ‘em by the time you get out there. And if your brother gets there first, I get the feeling you’ll have your place reserved on his team when it’s your shot.”

The reality of the timeline of Bolin’s pro-bending fantasies dimmed his enthusiasm somewhat, and he didn’t quite brighten until he made the first real contact with an earth disc, sending it whizzing wide of the mark, but forcefully enough that Toza whistled in honest admiration. “Nice shot, Bolin. See? You’re getting there. Stay light, remember. If someone’s coming at you, you can’t buckle down early. Don’t commit to the shot until you know it’s going where you need it to.”

They’d been in the gym a few hours by the time the pro-benders started showing up for their early morning practice sessions. The first team to arrive, the Sparrowkeets, wandered over to chat with Toza and to admire Bolin’s growing skill with the earth discs. Mako was proud of his brother; Bolin had always been a quick learner, and this was no exception. Bolin had a real earthbending master now; someone to teach him the proper ways of doing things where Mako had only been scraping by, going on what he remembered from their father and what he saw in earthbenders around Republic City. He’d become an amazing bender, with Toza to thank…

Mako shook his head. He couldn’t be jealous of Bolin; Lightning Bolt Zolt and a few of the other Triple Threats had taught him, after all, when Bolin hadn’t had a proper master. The only thing Bolin had ever asked when Mako returned at the end of the day, singed and bruised, was if Mako could show him any new firebending tricks he’d learned. That was just Bo. 

He focused again on the training below him. Toza and the Sparrowkeets’ earthbender were correcting Bolin’s defensive stance, nudging at him until he was standing properly. They moved through the stances slowly, breaking what Toza was loudly complaining were ‘bad habits’ picked up over the last seven years. Mako blushed furiously. Those habits were his fault, he knew. Maybe he should have let Bo tag along to the Triple Threats’ hangout; at least then there’d have been some earthbenders for him to learn from.

But no. “This is what Mako taught me,” Bolin was saying. He demonstrated one of the moves they’d developed together, derived from one of Mako’s favourite firebending stances. One of the earth discs flew straight and true to the center of one of the nets. He was getting good, in almost no time at all. “He made it up. It’s really tough.”

Toza was nodding along sagely. “Unfortunately it’ll probably get you wiped out in the arena,” he admitted, “but it is a pretty good one. You’ve been lucky, to have that brother of yours.”

Mako busied himself with his scarf, pretended he wasn’t listening, so he didn’t hear Bolin’s answer. Whatever it was it made Toza and the Sparrowkeet laugh, and the Sparrowkeet bender tousle Bo’s hair, mutter something about cute kid, before she headed back over to her teammates.

“I’ve got the defense down now, Toza. Can we try a few practice blocks? Please?”

“Not today, Bolin. We’ll save that for another day. We’re just getting started, here, and Mako hasn't had a chance to flex his so-called muscles yet.”

“Come on; please? I just want to see what it’s like.”

Mako waved off Toza's questioning look. "I can wait."

Toza sighed. “Fine. One or two. From close range.”

“Sure!”

“And not even close to full power.”

“I know, I know, I'm not ready, gotta train more for that, we're just starting," Bolin chanted rapidly. "Let's do it!”

Mako sat up a little straighter. Toza positioned himself no more than four feet away from Bolin, a couple of earth discs at his feet. “Chest level,” he said. “Show me the stance.”

Bolin demonstrated. “If you can’t bend the disc,” Toza continued,” get out of the way. This won’t hurt you, but I get the feeling your brother will hurt me if it hits you.”

“No he won’t,” Bolin said cheerfully. “Mako acts tough, but he’s not really.”

“Gee. Thanks, Bolin,” Mako called.

“Oh! That’s not what I meant – obviously you’re tough, Mako, but I mean – you’re not mean-tough. You’re grumpy-tough. But you –“

“Bolin, stop talking,” Toza said. Mako stuck his tongue out at his brother. “Concentrate. You need your timing to block.”

“Right. Ready when you are, Toza!”

Toza’s movements and release of the disc were almost comically slow. Mako had to admire Toza’s control, to hold back so much and to still manage a straight shot. He held his breath a little as Bolin dug in, settled into the new stance, and pulled up a disc. 

The block wasn’t totally clean, but it was good, if Mako said so himself. A few shards blew back in Bolin’s face, but they safely clattered off the mask of his borrowed helmet. “Wow!” Bolin cheered. “That was so awesome! Mako, did you see that?”

“I did. Way to go, bro.”

“Toza, let’s try another one – please!”

Mako saw right through Toza’s put-upon sigh. A smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth, and Mako grinned with the knowledge that the old man was enjoying this just as much as Bolin. “Fine. We’ll try a few more like that, and when you’re blocking cleanly we’ll see where we go from there.”

 

And on it went. There were no bending matches scheduled for a couple of nights, so the teams who arrived for training gave them their space and didn’t fuss at some kid messing around with their equipment. They were there for some light sparring, stretching, and tweaking to techniques, and rolled in and out like clockwork with only a few curious glances spared in Bolin and Toza’s direction. It was almost time for lunch, and Mako’s stomach was growling, by the time Toza had put the width of the gym between himself and Bolin for one last practice run. “This one will be not quite top speed, but close,” he called to Bolin. “Remember – if you can’t bock it, duck it. Don’t do anything stupid.”

It was advice he’d given Bolin before he took a shot. Bolin wanted to push himself; Mako knew that. He knew Bolin wouldn’t completely give up on the whole prodigy thing until someone figuratively beat it into him – and even then, his brother was stubborn. Determined. If Mako was getting hungry, though, Bolin must have been starving. Mako worried that might affect him more than he was willing to let on.

“I’ve got it under control, Toza. Ready!” Bolin bounced on his toes, tried cracking his knuckles (and failed), spit in his palms and rubbed them together.

Two things happened, then, seemingly at once. Bolin turned his head to grin up at Mako, forming the words watch this! as he did so. And across the gym, Toza punched a disc, at what sure looked to be full speed, toward Bolin. 

In hindsight, it was obvious Toza had once again telegraphed every inch of the move. Bolin’s success in blocking Toza’s previous strikes meant that he would have had ample time to prepare his counterstrike, even though Toza had put almost all of his power behind the shot.

But of course Bolin was being Bolin – excitable, eager, and keen to know what Mako thought of his success. So the moment Toza let the earth disc fly, Mako felt his own face pale and launched a blast of fire at the same time he shouted Bolin’s name in warning.

The earth disc’s aim was true, heading for the centre of Bolin’s chest. Mako’s desperate fire dealt the disc a glancing blow, one that altered its course enough to take Bolin’s heart out of the danger zone. But Bolin still fell like a ton of bricks with a shocked, agonized yelp, clutching at his shoulder and squirming pitifully on the floor before going still. Mako’s heart seized in his chest and he launched himself from the steps. 

Toza made it to Bolin first, tight-lipped, trying to pry Bolin’s hand from its protective curl over his right shoulder. Mako skidded to his knees on Bolin’s other side.

“I’m okay,” Bolin was repeating in a dazed babble, though he was looking rather grey. “It’s fine, it hurt some but it’s fine, you don’t need to-“

“Shut your yap, Bolin,” Toza snapped, “and let me see.” Bolin gave up trying to cover his injury and let Toza move his hand out of the way and expose his shoulder. “Mako, sit him up.”

Mako obeyed wordlessly, moving to Bolin’s head and sliding his hands under Bolin’s shoulders to prop him up. Bolin gasped when his shoulder was jostled, but he bit down on his lip determinedly. Toza palpated collar bone, joint, and upper arm, but didn’t get more than a controlled inhale through the nose from Bolin in response until Toza ordered Bolin to try and lift his arm.

“Don’t,” Bolin gasped. 

“Do it,” Toza ordered.

Bolin tried. He lifted his arm all of half an inch, and his face lost whatever colour was remaining. “I’m gonna be sick.”

Mako winced. “No you’re not. Why the hell did you do that?” he demanded of Toza. “He wasn’t ready!”

Toza gave Mako a brief, disbelieving look. “He was,” he countered easily. “If he hadn’t been distracted-“

“If he had been ready, he wouldn’t have been distracted!”

Toza ignored him. “You have a choice, Bolin – I can pop that shoulder back in no problem, or we can go to the healers’ station and let the professionals handle it.”

“No, no, I’m good. I’ll just walk it off, sleep it off…it’s just bruised, I’ll be fine by tomorrow.” 

Toza pushed Bolin back. “You leave that too long, and you’ll lose the arm. Poor circulation. Me or the healers?”

Bolin subsided. “Healers,” he muttered.

“Good.” Toza moved to scoop Bolin up. Mako intercepted him. He’d done enough damage for one day.

“I got it.”

Bolin knew the drill – he was getting taller, making it a bit awkward at first, but he was still relatively light. He draped his good arm around Mako’s neck, cradling his injured arm close to his chest, and Mako hooked his arms under Bolin’s knees. It was awkward standing, but Toza gave them a little boost and Mako headed for the door with Bolin on his back and Pabu at his heels. “Healers?” he asked of Toza.

The old man stalked ahead of them, muttering to himself. Mako knew whatever comments Toza was making were directed at him, but he had Bolin to be concerned about. Bolin and losing his arm, Bolin and his earthbending training with this crazy old man trying to force him into something he wasn’t ready for. He concentrated on the stiff way Bolin was holding himself against his back, the tight squeeze of his left arm around Mako’s neck, hand fisting the front of his shirt. He’d let Bolin go too far, again, instead of stopping the training when it was getting to be too much. It was the first day, after all. What was he thinking?

 

The healers wouldn’t let him stay with Bolin while they reset his shoulder, and Mako could tell from the cries coming from behind the door that they hadn’t given his brother anything to dull the pain while they went about it, either. His palms burned as he pressed his shoulders square against the wall. Toza was still there, watching him from the entrance. “You know he wasn’t in any danger,” he finally said.

Mako snapped his gaze to Toza. “What?”

“You’re a smart kid. It was instinct that made you react, but that’s what you need to learn – how to assess a situation before your heart takes over. Bolin wasn’t in any danger until you interfered.”

“Excuse me?” Mako drew himself up. “You’re the one who bent that disc – he wasn’t watching, you only started training him a few hours ago –“

“And until that moment, in our entire session, were you worried about him not being able to block or counter? After he learned the basic forms, I mean.”

“I –“ 

“Think.”

Mako did. He glared, but he did. Toza hadn’t gone easy on Bolin, not once. He’d been challenging Bolin, correcting him when he made mistakes, drilling him when he’d needed to work on movement and stance. He’d worked up to direct assaults with earth discs, increasing the difficulty, scaling back when Bolin hadn’t quite been able to correct himself after repeated attempts.

Pulling shots that needed pulling. Mako felt a twist in his gut that had nothing to do with the thought of his brother having one of his limbs popped in and out of place. Toza had control. Toza’s bending was accurate.

Mako’s was not. Toza could have pulled that last shot. Would have, if Mako hadn’t interfered. 

A hand landed on his shoulder. Mako blinked, pulled back to the healers’ station. Toza was right there in front of him. “Your job is to protect your little brother,” he said quietly, echoing what he’d heard Shady Shin tell Mako days earlier. “You don’t trust anyone else to be able to do that?”

Mako snorted. “No.”

“Because he can’t protect himself?”

“No!” Mako protested. “He can – not when he was really little, but now he’s older…he was getting better at it. He just…likes people. Likes to help them. And animals.”

Toza raised an eyebrow. “And you don’t?”

“Help people who wouldn’t lift a finger to help us?” Mako bristled. “Right. That’s Bo’s territory. Bolin likes them, likes helping everyone. Tries to, anyway, even when it’s the stupid thing to do. He wants them to like him.” Toza laughed. “The day we met you on the street?” Mako felt a surge of anger just thinking about it. “He went back to Mr. Feng’s pet shop that night to save that stupid fire ferret.” Pabu squeaked indignantly, like he knew he was being insulted. “He was almost killed by a pythonaconda. He left the cage open. And when I stopped it? All he said was, _‘I named him Pabu. It came to me when the snake was crushing me’._ He doesn’t think!”

Toza grinned. “I’d say he thinks about more than you give him credit for. He just doesn’t think the same way you do.”

“Yeah, and look what happens to him.”

“He’ll make mistakes,” Toza said, sobering. “Sure he will. So will you.”

“I already have,” Mako interrupted. “Today.”

“But you can’t beat yourselves up about it. And you can’t beat yourself up for the mistakes both of you make. You love your brother, Mako; anyone with a brain can see it. But you can’t make him just like you. You might think he’s stupid for trusting people the way he does, and it’ll get him burned – and yeah; sure it will. But to stop him trusting people in the first place wouldn’t make him Bolin anymore, would it?”

“I guess.”

Toza whapped Mako on the back of the head. “Don’t be stupid,” he growled. “Am I right, or what?”

Mako rubbed his smarting head. “Yeah,” he admitted.

“You love your brother for who he is, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So find that balance, Mako, between trying to keep him out of trouble and letting him find his own way. I don’t know even a quarter of what you two had to deal with, all alone like that, but I’ll bet it’s going to be hard to do it. But you’ve gotta try.”

“Toza?” One of the healers appeared in the door. She smiled kindly at Mako, and waved him inside. “We’re finished. You can come in and see him now.”

Mako didn’t hesitate, pushing in past the healers. Bolin was propped up on a cot, still pale and with his shoulder wrapped up tightly, but the lines of pain on his face had eased. He brightened visibly when Mako appeared in the doorway. “Mako,” he slurred. “Hey, Mako. They gave me…stuff. Pain stuff. My shoulder doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s all good. Where’s Pabu?”

As if on cue, Pabu scurried up onto the bed and sniffed curiously at Bolin’s bandages. “Hi Pabu!” Bolin cooed.

“Are you okay?” Mako asked. There wasn’t any space allotted for visitors, so Mako nudged Bolin over a little and perched on the cot beside him. Bolin’s eyelids were drooping, and he didn’t seem to have much control over his neck at the moment, but he grinned tiredly.

“Yeah. I’m am-amz-I’m good. Hey. Mako.”

“Yeah?”

“Remember when Shady Shin had that bottle of stuff, and Jas stole it, and I drank some of it?”

Some of it? Mako pressed his lips together. How could he forget? The boys had dared Bolin to down the Fire Nation liquor, and Bolin had thrown up his guts until lunch the next day. “Yeah.”

“I kinda…feel like that. Except…not.”

“Not in a good way, or not in a bad way?”

There was a long silence, and Mako thought Bolin had fallen asleep, but then Bolin smacked his lips as if in thought. “Good. I think.”

“Oh, okay. Good.”

“Yeah.”

One of the healers came back in, Toza peering in over her shoulder, and smiled at the sight of them sitting together on the bed. “He’ll be fine; don’t worry. We’ve done all we can for his shoulder right now, but he’ll need to take it easy for a couple of weeks. The pain should subside before too long, provided he doesn’t overdo it.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t,” Mako promised.

“We’ve given him something for the pain, and we’ll keep him until he sleeps it off some. He’ll still be groggy when he wakes up, though; do you have far to go? Where do you live?”

“Upstairs. We’ll be fine.”

The healer looked confused for a moment before her expression cleared. “Oh! You’re Toza’s kids then, are you?”

Mako blinked. Toza shrugged. “Er, yeah. Um. Kind of. I guess we are?”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. Keep an eye on that brother of yours; keep him out of trouble. Let me know if he needs anything later on.”

“I will,” Mako said. “Um, thank you. For helping him.”

“Of course, dear.” She left them alone then, and Toza cleared his throat. 

“Tell Bolin I’ll come around to check on him later. If you need help getting him to the attic, send someone to get me; I’ll be in the gym.”

Mako nodded. “Toza? Thanks. Uh. You know.”

Toza rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome.”

When Toza was gone, Mako shifted a little, making himself a bit more comfortable on the cot. He’d go in a bit, get himself and Bolin something to eat and bring it back before Bolin woke up. But if Bolin could sneak in a nap right now, he could too. 

“Mako?” Clearly his movements had jostled Bolin out of his doze. 

“Mm?”

“When you’re a pro-bender, will you let me on your team?”

Mako smiled. “Don’t worry, Bo. I won’t even go pro until you can.”

Bolin’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah. We stick together, right? So when you’re ready, we’ll both join. We’ll find a waterbender, and we’ll make our own team.”

“Awesome. And I’ve got the perfect name for us already, you know.”

“What is it?”

Bolin smiled sleepily. “The Fire Ferrets.”

Mako groaned. “Seriously? When did you decide you’d spring that on me?”

“I dunno. It just came to me when those healers were trying to pull my arm off.”

“Bolin, stop talking.”

 

_End_


End file.
